


Return of the Phantom

by GalacticDefender4679



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-10 03:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18930466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticDefender4679/pseuds/GalacticDefender4679
Summary: Atsushi Kanamoto has managed to escape Japan and arrive in Washington DC to continue the Death Gun killings on the American GGO server. To that end, the government has hired a VRMMORPG bounty hunter to track him down and defeat him, but he requires… more experienced help.





	1. The Hunter

_Date: May 20, 2027 2:15 PM_

Death in-game meant no death IRL. That has been the way video games have worked since time immemorial, but in 2022 the Japanese legend Akihiko Kayaba introduced full-dive VR technology for the play of video games of his own design… and ended up trapping 10000 players in his own game Sword Art Online with only two rules; beat the game to leave and in-game death results in real-life death.

In the end, the game was beaten 25 levels early by a lone black swordsman with twin blades. Unfortunately, the aftermath cascaded into a tangled web of incidents in which a computer program known only as “The Seed” was released onto the Internet, allowing anyone who was so inclined to create their own virtual reality games.

And one of the most prolific and gruesome, created by ZASKAR in the United States, is known simply as Gun Gale Online; set on a post-apocalyptic Earth where gun violence is the norm, it only makes sense for those with more power or a less rigid moral code (to be blunt) than other players have to be… for lack of a better term, censored. And for that, the ZASKAR gamemasters, in cooperation with the government, grant one player the authority to temporarily ban any other player from the game at the time of their death.

Any player who wants someone else banned from the game need only come to the Smoking Barrel Inn, Bar & Grill in the game’s capital city SBC Glocken, run by a player by the handle of Gun-Runner Jack, to contract the hunter.

His screen name is… “He-hey! Dapper Beta Kapper!” Okay, the “dapper” part’s just a nickname, but you get the idea. He’s a bit of a celebrity in the bar and the whole server as he’s essentially better at this sort of work than all of server security combined. “How ya doin’, man?”

“Doin’ great, Jack. Especially ‘cause I just scored another 50K.” He dropped a large visor on the bar, which drew everyone’s attention.

“Whoa! No way, is that whose I think it is?” Jack was Beta’s best friend; always the first to believe his amazing achievements, but if this really was what he thought it was then there was no way he could believe it.

“Yes, my man it is.” Beta smirked and turned to the other patrons of the bar. “I put down Goliath, y’all!” The whole bar erupted in cheering for the resident bounty hunter; the player known as Goliath was one of the most terrifying PKers in Gun Gale Online, famed for mowing down anyone who got in his way with a massive antitank minigun.

“Dude, this is huge! How the hell’d you put him down?!”

“Ho-ho Jack, let me tell you a tale,” Beta smirked. “I… don’t actually have anything for this. I just threw a grenade at him and… he… died…”

“You disappoint me, man.” Jack crossed his arms.  
“I disappoint _myself_. Anyway, you got my pay for this job or what?”

“Yeah-yeah, here ya go.” One quick cash exchange later and Beta was all set to walk away from this latest job 50,000 credits richer.

“Thanks. Now then… Soldiers of Gun Gale, drinks on me!” That one yell made the whole bar erupt in cheers for the famed mercenary, who then dropped a digital sack containing his money on the ground before he turned back to Jack. “I leave this in your capable hands.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” Jack rolled his eyes. “Uh, by the way, some guy was in here earlier looking for you. Told me to hang onto this message for you.”

Once the message was passed across the bar, Beta immediately recognized it. “Oh great. Secretary Vargas is in town.” Antonio Vargas was the head of the Virtual Reality division of the US Department of Technology, and the one who authorized Beta to ban criminal players. Though Beta had been abusing that power recently and he wasn’t sure how Vargas would react to it.

“Oh. Well… nice knowin’ ya man. I’ll visit ya in jail.”

“Wha- Dude!”

“I’m kidding! God, relax man!” That was one thing Beta didn’t like about Jack; he could be one sick puppy when he wanted to be.

“Ugh! Dude, you know I hate it when you do that.” Beta facepalmed and walked up the stairs to the rooms. “Alright, I’m gonna log out and see what Vargas wants. Anything substantial comes up, email me okay?”

“Yeah, whatever. And you’ll let me know what he wants when you find out, right?”

“Yeah-yeah.” With that, Beta just slipped into his usual room upstairs and simply laid down on the bed before logging out.

Upon leaving the game, Benjamin Klaassen slowly rose from his bed and removed his Amusphere, looking around his old bedroom. He’d been in this GGO bounty hunting business for a good few months now and had amassed quite the sizable fortune from it, thanks to the game’s less-then-legit game-coin to real-cash conversion system. Granted, MMORPG bounty hunting might not have allowed him to get out as much as he wanted, but as long as he could turn a profit tidy enough to afford some epic tech and toys. But if Jack was right (which he really hoped wasn’t the case), then all that might disappear in less than a minute.

 _“Meet me at Pueblo Harvest at 4. I need to talk to you about something.”_ That’s what his message said, and that’s what Ben was worried about right now. Still, best not to keep a secretary from the government waiting, so he quickly dressed in a semi-formal manner and left his old house in Santa Fe, riding his old motorbike all the way down to Albuquerque.

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is the main hub of Native American culture in the state of New Mexico; “Gateway to the 19 Pueblos of the state”, as their slogan says. And if their collection of fascinating native artifacts and the menu at the attached café is any indication, I’d say they do a very nice job of it.

“Hi, I’m Mr. Vargas’s guest.”

“Ah, of course, he’s back here.” The maître’d nodded and calmly led the way to a table near a window where Vargas was waiting for Ben, still as well-dressed as ever; exactly what one would think of concerning a member of the government.

“Ben hey, glad you made it.” It was a rare thing indeed to see Secretary Vargas frown, but even so, he still looked very serious and no-nonsense, even when smiling.

“As if I’d miss having lunch with you, Mr. Secretary.” Ben smiled right back and shook his hand. “After all, you’re the one who gave me my job. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pay you back for that.”

“Yeah well, sorry but it’s gonna be a big bill.” That was one more plus to this guy; he was humorous when he had to be. “Lunch is on me so feel free to order whatever you like.”

“Thanks, but I’m not all that hungry right now.” Ben sat down and smiled at the maître’d. “I think I’ll just have a bison brisket and some apple juice.”

“Alright. And for you, sir?”

“Just a cobb and some water.” Vargas nodded.

“Alright, I’ll have that right out for you.” After that he left, leaving Ben to smirk.

“You’re really taking this veg-craze you’re on seriously, aren’t ya Tony?”

“What can I say? I got a few pounds to burn.” The two shared a laugh at that, which petered out a few seconds after.

“But in all seriousness Tony, why did you call me here? Are you firing me?”

“What? God no. You’re the best hunter I’ve ever hired. Firing you would be the worst mistake of my political career.” Vargas reassured, pulling out a small tablet. “In actuality, my department has a bounty for you.”

Ben was surprised by this. “Really?” Happily, of course. “Well alright then, who’s my mark?”

Vargas simply answered by sliding Ben the tablet, which showed a picture of a young Japanese man with fair hair. “You know this guy?”

Ben shrugged. “Never seen him before in my life.”

“I expected as such. He’s been on the Japanese Self-Defense Force’s radar for the last two years, but he hasn’t been much of a problem for foreigners like us in that time. Until now.” He scrolled the page on the tablet up a bit to show Ben his mark’s real-life name; Atsushi Kanamoto.

And as soon as he saw it, Ben froze in place. “You’re- you’re sending me after Johnny Black? From Laughing Coffin? You’re kidding me, right Tony?”

“I wish I was. My counterpart from across the pond, Seijirou Kikuoka, emailed me two days ago and told me that Kanamoto managed to make it to DC somehow.” Tony shrugged at this part. “Neither of us still have any idea how he got past airport security in Japan, but if our hunch is correct, he wants to pick up where he and the Shinkawa brothers left off back in Tokyo.”

“And you want me to pick up Kikuoka’s slack in catching him, right?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” At this point, the food arrived so their attention was drawn away from the discussion for the moment… at least until the waiter left. “Now naturally, we’ll take all the necessary security precautions but with the American server’s 6th Bullet of Bullets tournament coming up soon, we need Kanamoto out of the picture fast. Seijirou’s already in enough hot water as it is after that whole Alicization debacle so we do this for him, and he’ll be free to go.”

Ben was unsure about this whole thing but sighed in relent. “How are you fixed for pay?”

Vargas smirked at this. “Two mill.”

Ben suddenly jolted up in shock at this news; with that kind of money, he could overhaul his entire technological setup and get even more efficient about his work. “I have my conditions.”

Vargas shrugged as he speared some of his salad onto his fork. “Name ‘em.”

“We do this somewhere Kanamoto will never expect to find me, and I get to bring back-up into the game.”

“Done. I’ve already gotten a room booked for you at a hotel in DC for the duration of the job, and you can bring as many other division members onto the server as you want.”

Ben shook his head at this. “No, even the US VR Division isn’t capable of handling a member of Laughing Coffin. I’m bringing in my _own_ backup.”

Vargas smirked as he swallowed his bite of salad. “Anyone I know?”

Ben smirked right back; Vargas knew exactly who he was talking about. “Your counterpart might know them pretty well.”

Vargas just smiled this time and gave a small chuckle, not a hint of seriousness on his face; which was also rare. “I’ll tell him to let them know.”

“Ah-ah-ah. No way. I doubt my backup trusts Kikuoka after what happened last year. _I’ll_ let them know the gist. Naturally, however, I leave their travel expenses and compensation in the government’s hands.”

Vargas nodded. “Understood.” Then he cracked a smile. “Now hurry up and eat; your steak’s getting cold.”

Ben smiled, knowing his friend was right. Without a second thought, he started eating the brisket and smiled as it melted in his mouth as usual. “Oh, and uh… by the way, this whole thing just reminded me; have the boys in Robotics gotten their present finished yet?”

Vargas smirked, knowing exactly what he was talking about. “Oh yeah, they should be finished in the next three days. And by all accounts, it _exceeds_ expectations.”

Ben smiled as he produced his phone. “Well if that’s the case, then I know they’re going to love it.” He simply punched in a number and let it ring a few times before someone picked up.

“ _Moshimoshi?_ ” the voice on the other end replied.

“Hi Sugu, is Kazuto available?”


	2. The Survivors

_Time: May 27, 2027 5:43 PM_

_Location: Ronald Reagan International Airport, Arlington VA_

The flight from Tokyo had been delayed by three minutes because of inclement weather, but either way Ben knew his Japanese contact would be on time, regardless of the weather. And indeed: it took a minute after landing for him to disembark but there his contact stood; same black hair and eyes he had seen when the two first met in an international game a few months back and garbed in all black just as he was then as well.

“Kirigaya-san.”

“Kurasen-san.” They each gave the usual Japanese bow of courtesy. “Konichiwagozaimasu.”

“Well, now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, perhaps we can continue in English.” Ben walked closer and offered a hand to his friend. “After all, practice makes perfect.”

Kazuto chuckled and clapped hands with his American friend. “It’s great to see you again, Ben.”

“Yeah you too, man. I assume you brought Yui and your dive-gear with you?”

Kazuto simply raised his carry-on briefcase. “Absolutely. And uh, another passenger too.” Ben looked and smiled as he saw a young woman roughly Kazuto’s age with long bright chestnut hair and hazel eyes dressed in dull red and white.

“Ah. Asuna Yūki, n’est-ce pas?”

“Hai. Douzo yoroshiku.” Asuna bowed, making Ben a bit uncomfortable.

“Come on now Asuna, there’s no need to be so formal. We can speak English freely here.”

Asuna stood straight and blushed a small bit in embarrassment. “R-Right, sorry. It’s just that- this is my first visit to America.”

Ben smiled and extended his hand, which she accepted with a smile. “Well, I’m sorry to bring you here under such unfortunate circumstances. Ben Klaassen, US VRMMO bounty hunter at your service. Cmon, let’s get to the hotel.” He looked at Kazuto with a smile. “But first, what say we let Yui out and let her look around?”

Kazuto smirked and opened his briefcase to retrieve a small camera-probe and placed it on his shoulder before turning it on. “So what was all that you told me over the phone about a present for her?”

“Ah well that, my hide-garbed friend, will have to wait until we get to the hotel.” Kazuto rolled his eyes and smirked at Ben as they all started out of the airport to baggage claim.

“I’m confused, what are you guys talking about?” Ben was surprised at this statement from Asuna.

He gave a dry chuckle. “Aw Kazuto, you haven’t told her about me? I’m hurt.”

“Yeah sorry, I’ve been pretty preoccupied with rehab after that Alicization thing.” Kazuto shrugged.

“Well, I guess that’s understandable.” Ben shrugged. “Anyway Asuna, you know that relatively new full-dive game _Myth Quest Online_?”

“The international game?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Suddenly the two’s bags came out onto the belt prompting Ben to quickly help them in lifting them to the floor. “So yeah, it’s this one where you go around the world and collect mythical treasures, fight legendary monsters, the usual. Anyway, I first met Kazuto _and_ Yui when I was in Greece after the Golden Fleece. But then, they showed up and we ended up fighting.”

“Worst mistake of that meet-up.” That little ice-breaker from Kazuto made the two laugh for a few seconds.

“Y-Yeah once we clashed swords, the Fleece literally transformed into a boss; Chrysomallus the Winged Ram. And lemme tell ya, he was a _beast!_ ” Ben chuckled as they left baggage-claim. “Seriously it took us like an hour and a half to kill the damn thing, and I ended up getting the last-hit bonus; the Fleece itself.”

“Yeah, and as an understanding player, I let him have it… provided he helped me get something just as cool.” Kazuto shrugged. “That’s where Yui came in; she brought up the Nemean Lion and y’know, we just killed that and I got a coat made from its hide, which basically makes me invincible.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, we’re considering heading up Yggdrasil next time we play together which, if I understand the game’s mechanics correctly, should be much easier than it is in ALO.” Ben shrugged. “But enough about that for now. Cmon, the quickest way into DC from here is via the Metro system.” It was just a few stations down from the airport and a short walk until the three reached the Residence Inn hotel where Vargas was waiting with a few men from the FBI.

“Secretary Vargas.” Ben saluted. “I’m pretty sure you know my back-up here.”

“Not personally, but I know _of_ them very well.” Tony nodded, handing out the keycards. “The boys have set you up in Room 417. And they just got done leaving the present up there.”

“Seriously, what _is_ this present?” Ben smirked at Asuna’s confusion, rolling his eyes.

“Just keep your shirt on, Princess. But for a little tip, observe.” He took the keycards from Tony and flipped them out in front of his accompaniments, which greatly confused them.

“Wait a sec; _four_ cards?” Ben and Tony both smiled at Kazuto’s question.

“You’ll understand when we get to the room.” With that, Ben simply led the two to the elevator and simply brought them up to the fourth floor.

“Okay, so which one’s our room?” asked Asuna.

“Probably that one.” Kazuto simply pointed to the room with two men in FBI jackets outside the door.

Ben sighed. “Yeah, that’s it.” He walked over to the room and crossed his arms. “Alright guys, you can take off. We’re going in.”

“Sorry sir, but Mr. Vargas said you would need security just in case.” one of them said.

“Look, guys, we can handle this ourselves. I’ve got a plan to cover this.” Ben shrugged. “If you want to run security here, you can do it at the elevator. Just search everyone who looks like our mark and you’ll be doing your job.”

“We’re gonna have to clear that plan with Mr. Vargas before we go with it.” the other guard shrugged.

“Look whatever, just let us in okay?” The guards moved aside and allowed the three in, to see that the room was obviously swanky and set with a lot of medical equipment to keep watch over their vitals.

And also there was a large industrial-looking case on the ground, which drew some serious attention from Kazuto. “What the? Is this-?”

“Yep. That’s your present. But first… would I be correct in assuming Yui’s probe has speakers?” Ben smirked.

“That would be a big old yes.” Kazuto flipped the switch and smiled into the camera. “Sorry to keep you on mute Yui, but we didn’t want to draw any attention.”

“ _It’s okay Daddy. I understand._ ” No one could tell without a face, but they knew Yui was smiling. “ _The world isn’t ready to know about me yet._ ”

“Well, there won’t be any need to worry about that anymore. Well… at least it’ll be _less_ of a problem.” Ben shrugged. “Observe.” With that, he undid all the latches on the case and ceremonially flipped it open. “Et voila!”

“Shut the front door.” That was all Kazuto could say about what he saw; an android built in Yui’s image (long black hair, petite body, white dress and all) that appeared so human, that anyone who looked at it would absolutely think it _was_ human.

“Yeah. You can thank the Robotics Division of the Tech Department _and_ the top-ranking robotics minds at MIT for getting this baby put together.” Ben smirked, retrieving a small checklist from next to the droid’s arm. “Just need to let Yui connect and run a few cursory tests to make sure everything is working within correct parameters. Of course, I don’t feel completely comfortable bringing her online in a box, so if one and/or both of you wouldn’t mind…”

Asuna quickly nodded, getting the message and carefully craned the body out of the case and onto one of the beds, taking care not to disturb the droid’s dress. “There. Now what?”

“Now… Yui, I’m sure you’ve noticed the Wi-Fi signal the body is putting out. Just piggy-back off that and jump on in.” Ben’s instructions were given with a smirk and Yui did just as she was told, prompting her camera-probe to suddenly go offline.

Once that happened, Ben moved over to her side, clipboard at the ready as a camera suddenly jumped out of the case and started watching the group, confusing Kazuto and Asuna. “Oh yeah, I forgot to mention; the guys at MIT wanna see how the test goes so they loaded in a camera to record it. If you want, I can have my friend there copy the file and send it to you.” With that, he simply turned back to the clipboard, pen in hand. “Alright Yui, we’re gonna test your neck-actuators and hearing first. Nod if you can hear me.” This order was met with a low nod, which gave Ben all the confirmation he needed. “Alright, that’s a big ol’ check. Next up is smell.” With that, he pulled out a smudge-stick and lit it up with a match, letting the smoke waft around the room before he held it up to the droid’s nose. “Yui, this is white sage. Take a deep breath and nod if you can smell it.” It was obvious Yui could smell it as small tendrils of smoke flew up to her nose and she smiled as she nodded. “Okay, check off that _and_ mouth actuators. Next up; taste-bud testing.”

“You’re kidding me, right? You managed to accurately recreate human taste-bud sensations?” Kazuto asked incredulously.

“Well, the guys were still tweaking it last time I checked, but if what Vargas told me last week is true, then they should have it nailed by now.” With that, he carefully filled a small spoon full of honey from the jar on the counter and walked it over to Yui. “Alright Yui, this is honey. Open your mouth.” She did a small bit, allowing Ben to slip the spoon in between her lips and slide its contents off and onto her tongue. She smiled happily and gave an equally happy nod. “Alright check. Now for touch.” For that, he simply touched his pen to Yui’s wrist. “Can you feel that?” She nodded. “Alright then. Time for the clincher; open your eyes. Let’s see if you can see.” She carefully opened her black eyes to see Ben smiling at her before he held the pen above her. “Alright, now follow the pen with just your eyes.” He waved the pen around in the air like a licensed optometrist as her eyes followed the small item. “Alright, now you can move your head.” She did, her obvious actuators barely even giving a faint whir with every move she made. “Alright, that’s the senses taken care of. Now for the moment of truth… can you speak?”

“Of course I can.” As soon as she said that, everyone else smiled as they knew that this project was a success.

“Alright then, let’s move on to physical motion and balance.” It took a few more minutes for all of Yui’s servos to be fully tested and finally came the time for Yui to take her first steps in her new real-life skin.

Asuna took her daughter’s hand and carefully lifted her off the bed onto her feet. Her legs wobbled a bit, but she managed at least three steps, making it right into Kazuto’s arms for a family hug. “Thank you for this Ben. So much.”

“Not a problem, man.” Ben nodded, turning the camera off. “Plus, as you can tell, the boys built her to feel and look exactly like a human. In fact, they made her internal OS and endoskeleton to be completely undetectable by any and all security sensors. As far as anyone outside this room knows, Yui _is_ a human.”

Kazuto smiled. “Incredible. Man, you Americans are incredibly advanced.”

“You think _this_ is impressive? Wait till you see the server. We’ve got _so_ much more content than in Japan.” Ben smiled, sitting on the bed and wiring himself up under his shirt. “Yui, you can jump from your body to any other sort of OS you’re familiar with without any sort of trouble so you can stick close to them in the game.” He looked at Kazuto and Asuna. “Once you log onto the server, go to the Smoking Barrel Inn. I’ll be at the door waiting for you.”

Kazuto nodded. “Understood. Yui, move to the Amusphere.” Yui nodded laid down in the center of the other bed, closing her eyes before a light suddenly came on in Kazuto’s Amusphere, clearly Yui waiting for her pseudo-parents to come online.

“Alright. Let’s do this.” The two quickly connected themselves to the heart-monitor tech and all three locked on their Amuspheres, with Kazuto and Asuna laying on either side of Yui with Ben on the other bed.

“On my three, guys.” The two quickly nodded at this statement from Ben. “One… Two… Three!”

“Link Start!”


End file.
